What’s Behind the Transgender Movement, and Where Is It Going?

With lighting speed, an aggressive social movement promoting acceptance of transgenderism in American society has emerged and gained steam. Many civilians and military observers are concerned about individuals who suffer from gender dysphoria, a psychological condition that is difficult for patients and their families to live with. These human concerns do not preclude questions about the transgender movement’s ultimate goals, sources of funding, and consequences for our military.

The articles below provide thoughtful answers to questions about this radical movement, which seeks millions in Defense Department funding to transform the culture of our military. Insights of the authors, and empirical research they cite, are valuable in understanding the issue as it has developed in recent months.

For example, Jennifer Bilek cites Forbes in reporting that billionaire “transwoman” Jennifer Pritzker (formerly James) gave a $1.35 million grant to the Michael D. Palm Center. The grant is helping the California-based LGBT activist group to “create research validating military transgenderism.”

One of the most troubling articles describes the tragic suicide of a young man who was transitioning to become a girl. The article analyzes the risks of changing language to fit fantasies and raises serious questions about the ability of transgender “experts” to treat persons who are suffering from gender dysphoria.

William A. Woodruff, a former Professor of Law who retired as an Army Colonel and Judge Advocate General, wrote some comments about this story:

“The young person who committed suicide was thought by all the counselors, physicians, parents, teachers, and other people in his life to be happy, optimistic, and excited about his future and his gender transition journey. From all outward appearances this young person had a clear understanding of what he wanted, a plan to achieve it, and a support network that was fully committed to helping him achieve his desires. No one saw his suicide coming.

“I cannot imagine the pain and grief that his family, friends, and loved ones must be experiencing. His tragic death adds another data point in the well-recognized and reported high suicide rate among transgendered people. If anyone could manage the transgender process it would seem this young man could. But his tragic death reminds us that we do not understand the transgender phenomenon well enough to be able to prevent such senseless tragedies.

“Why is this young man’s death relevant to the issue of military service by transgendered personnel? First, it reminds us that even one who seems to be in the best position to make the transition from male to female is still grappling with serious, unresolved, and to the outside world unrecognized issues. There’s no way to know if a person is “stable” because we have no baseline against which to measure “stability” that will account for the serious, unresolved, and unrecognized issues the person is grappling with that even the medical professionals cannot discern.

“. . . [I]f the professionals who were involved in this young man’s life were unable to identify the risk factors of suicide and unable to appropriately intervene and prevent his decision to kill himself, the infantry lieutenant at Ft. Bragg who is getting his platoon ready to assume its role as the Division’s rapid reaction force will be unable to do so.”

“. . . [This tragedy] should remind us that military personnel policies must be crafted to produce an efficient, effective, and lethal combat force. Attempts to further social policies instead of improving combat lethality puts the focus, time, attention, resources, and energy toward the wrong goal. The question should always be, Does the proposed policy actually enhance combat effectiveness? Only by asking the right question will we ever get the right answer.”

Walt Heyer, who speaks from personal experience and mentors others whose lives have been torn apart by unnecessary gender change surgery, tells the story of retired Army Sergeant First Class Jamie Shupe. It is a story of emotional and physical trauma from cross-sex hormone treatment, which illustrates the sometimes-unforeseen consequences of experimental cross-sex hormone therapies that are prescribed for gender dysphoria:

George C. Weigel, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., has praised Dr. Ryan Anderson a young intellectual who wrote the new book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. Dr. Anderson was motivated to write his book after listening to heartbreaking stories from people who had gone through “sex reassignment.”

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